


flesh and fate at odds with each other

by soulscatchcolds



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, And this was the result, Fluff and Angst, Injury, M/M, Major Character Injury, Pining, honestly idek what this is, i was just feeling super angsty, might continue it might not idk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 10:12:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22487506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soulscatchcolds/pseuds/soulscatchcolds
Summary: “What do you think you guys need to focus on, moving forward, Jamie?” Just as Jamie was opening his mouth to respond, there was a rush of commotion outside the room. Everyone’s heads turned towards the noise. Jamie looked up to see people rushing towards the direction of the dressing room. He could see Klinger frantically looking around, yelling, “We need someone in there!”
Relationships: Jamie Benn/Tyler Seguin
Comments: 7
Kudos: 45





	flesh and fate at odds with each other

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a little drabble of something I've been wanting to read for a while but couldn't find anywhere, so I thought I'd give it a go myself. This is the first I've written in a long, long time (7 years!), so please excuse the laughably bad writing. 
> 
> I would appreciate any and all feedback :)
> 
> Title comes from the lyrics of Straitjacket by Juice.

"Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day we didn't get the points we wanted, but we put up a good fight and can look back on this game and learn from it," Jaime sighed into the many microphones occupying his personal space. God, he hated talking to the media. The reporters weren't even the issue, he just hated how awkward and camera shy he always got. No matter how many times he had done it before, it never got any less annoying. He couldn't bring himself to care enough to put any real energy into his answers, especially not right after losing an important game.

Especially not when Tyler had been acting off the whole night. He hadn’t been finishing passes with the skill Jamie knew he could, and he seemed slow, almost sluggish on the ice. Despite Jamie’s multiple attempts on the bench and during intermissions to figure out what was going on, Tyler repeatedly brushed him off with a “I just didn’t get much sleep last night.” But Jamie knew better. He knew _Tyler_ better and was determined to get an honest answer out of him before the night was over. If only he could make it out of the suffocating media room and back to the dressing room where he knew Tyler probably was.

“What do you think you guys need to focus on, moving forward, Jamie?” Just as Jamie was opening his mouth to respond, there was a rush of commotion outside the room. Everyone’s heads turned towards the noise. Jamie looked up to see people rushing towards the direction of the dressing room. He could see Klinger frantically looking around, yelling, “We need someone in there!”

Jamie was filled with a sudden sense of dread. Something had to have happened to one of his teammates. He quickly excused himself from the reporters and bumped his way out of the room, trying to get Klinger’s attention. “What happened? Who is it?” Klinger just stared at him, openmouthed, wide-eyed, as if he was afraid to answer Jamie. “For fuck’s sake, Klinger,” Jamie pushed past him, running to the dressing room. As captain of the team, it was his responsibility to look out for his teammates. Responsibility or not, though, he did genuinely care about every single guy he played with. This was his family, and it would absolutely kill him if something happened to any one of them. Never again did he want to feel the way he did when Rich Peverley collapsed unconscious into his lap a few years ago.

He slowed his pace as he made it into the dressing room. He could see a crowd of people hunched over someone in the corner. Something was very, very wrong. With every step he took, he could feel a deeper sense of dread settling into his gut. Pavelski, whose back was directly facing Jamie, swiveled around and immediately got up to come towards him. He left a gap where Jamie could see the legs of whoever it was on the ground. He shifted a bit to the right to get a better view.

He froze.

He could see an arm draped in tattoos.

_Tyler’s_ tattoos.

It was as if everything around him was suddenly moving in slow motion. He knew that Pavelski was talking to him, but he couldn’t hear anything except for an annoying, high-pitched ringing in his ears that was blocking his ability to think properly. All he knew was that Tyler was on the ground, laying motionless. There were a couple of medical trainers that gently flipped him over on his side so that he was facing Jamie. He still couldn’t see Tyler’s face. He didn’t think he wanted to. This couldn’t really be happening. It had to be some kind of horrible nightmare. Jamie pinched his eyes closed and took a deep breath, trying to clear the noise in his mind, and focus on the loud, rapid thumping of his heart.

“Jamie? You good, man?” Pavelski gently shook him. Jamie opened his eyes, looking around the room to see everyone in panic mode. “The ambulance will be here in a minute,” he heard someone yell from outside the room. He finally turned his attention to Pavelski, keeping his eyes on Tyler's body. “What happened?” Jamie asked quietly, trying to keep his voice from shaking. “I don’t know, man. Seggy was walking around, joking with the guys, and then he just fell over. I don’t know what the fuck happened.”

Jamie couldn’t take his eyes off of Tyler’s still body. He could see the trainers insert an IV bag into his arm. “Is he-” Jamie took a moment to swallow the sob that almost escaped his lips. “Is he conscious?” That was a dumb question. A question whose answer he didn’t really want. “I don’t know, man, I don’t think so.” Pavelski responded, as he quickly walked back towards Tyler, probably wanting to check on how he was doing.

That’s what Jamie should be doing. He should be by Tyler’s side. Maybe if he had been, if he’d paid closer attention, this would never have happened. He felt frozen. He couldn’t move his feet and couldn’t look away from Tyler’s body.

It felt like he had been standing like that forever, stuck in his spot in front of the doors, when a loud siren from outside finally broke his stance. The ambulance was here. When everyone in the room turned to see where the sound came from, their eyes inevitably landed on Jamie. He could see panic and confusion on the faces of his teammates. Teammates that regarded him as their captain, who expected him to lead. That’s the one thing he knew how to do, and what he needed to do in this moment.

“Dr. Eastman, what’s going on?” He asked, as he walked towards the corner of the room. As he got closer, he was careful to keep his eyes on the doctor, and not Tyler.

Dr. Eastman stood up from his crouched position, taking a moment before responding. “We think he had a stroke.” The room fell quiet. There were a couple of gasps with a quiet, “Fuck,” coming from someone sitting in the stalls.

“We won’t know anything for sure until we get to the hospital. We did give him mannitol to relieve some of the pressure in his head, so he should be ok. But again, we can’t say anything for sure yet.” Jamie nodded. Keeping his focus on the wall behind Dr. Eastman’s head, from the corner of his eye, Jamie could see EMT come into the room and carefully place Tyler on a stretcher.

He had heard what Dr. Eastman had said, but refused to process any of it. He was afraid that if he did, he might lose his already fragile composure. He couldn’t afford that. His team couldn’t afford that. They needed him right now.

As Tyler was being stretchered out of the room, Dr. Eastman turned to Jamie and said, “Dr. Isaacs is going to head to UT Southwestern with him.” It took a moment before Jamie replied, “Oh, yeah, of course. I’ll get there as soon as I can too.”

After a few moments, the dressing room emptied out, leaving only Jamie and his teammates to stir in uncomfortable silence. As Jamie looked around once more, he saw a sea of confused and distressed faces. Most guys were sitting quietly in their stalls, while others were pacing around the room. He cleared his throat, getting everyone to look at him.

“You guys should all go home. Get some rest. I’m gonna head to the hospital. I’ll let you know what’s going on.” The room stayed quiet. It took a few moments before there was quiet mumbling and guys started packing their things up. No more words were exchanged, but on their way out, some of his teammates clapped him on the shoulder and gave him a sorrowful, sympathetic look.

When everyone else had cleared out, Jamie stood alone, in the silence of the dressing room. He closed his eyes once more and took a deep breath. He needed to get to the hospital. He didn’t think he could drive himself. He could barely think straight. He absentmindedly got his phone from his pocket and ordered himself an Uber, letting his legs take him to the back entrance of the American Airlines Centre. He felt as if his body was operating on its own, almost robotically. Still refusing to let his brain focus on anything but automatic functioning, he stood outside waiting for his ride, letting the brisk February air of Dallas wash over him. 

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so, this is turning out to be a lot longer than I intended it to be. It's taking a lot more time and energy than I thought it would :')  
That being said, I will only continue to write if anyone wants me to. So please leave feedback and let me know if anyone actually cares about where this goes. Thank youuu


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